Joshua 2:1

II. THE SPIES AND RAHAB. (1) Joshua . . . sent out of Shittim.—That is, he sent the spies before the people left the place where they had been encamped for some months (Numbers 22:1; Numbers 33:49). Shittim was the last stage of the Exodus under Moses. Probably the sending of these two spies was simultaneous with the issue of the general orders to Israel to prepare for the passage of Jordan within three days. The three days of Joshua 1:11; Joshua 2:22 appear to be the same period of time. Two men to spy.—The sending of these spies should be compared, as to the general effect and character of the measure, with other similar events. There are three instances of sending spies in reference to Canaan—viz., (1) the sending of the twelve by Moses from Kadesh-barnea; (2) the instance before us; (3) the sending of men to view Ai. The present instance is the only one in which the measure had a good effect. In the case of the twelve, Moses describes the action as a manifestation of unbelief. The spies took upon them to discover the right path for Israel to take, a thing which was God’s prerogative, not theirs (Deuteronomy 1:22; Deuteronomy 1:32-33). The men who viewed Ai (Joshua 7:2-3) came back and presumed to instruct Joshua how to proceed against it, with disastrous results. In this instance the two men brought back a report of the state of things in Jericho (exactly what they were ordered to do), which encouraged all Israel to proceed.

Compare the effect of Gideon and Phurah’s visit to the camp of Midian (Judges 7:11), “Thou shalt hear what they say, and. afterwards shall thine hands be strengthened.” Into an harlot’s house, named Rahab.—The attempts to show that Rahab was not “an harlot” are not justified by the word used in Hebrew, or in the Greek of the LXX., or in the Epistle to the Hebrews (Hebrews 11:31), or in that of St. James (James 2:25). But there is no harm in supposing that she was also an innkeeper, which the Targum calls her in every place; indeed, it is very probable that the spies would resort to a place of public entertainment, as most suitable for ascertaining the state of the public mind. How far they were disguised, how they came to be discovered, whether the king of Jericho knew of the impending march of Israel from Shittim, are questions of detail which the narrative leaves unanswered, and which the imagination may discuss at pleasure. The point of the story is not in these. (1) There came men unto me, but I wist not whence they were.—A falsehood which evidently left no stain on Rahab’s conscience, although all falsehood is sin. The same may be said of Jael’s slaying Sisera. The Divine standard of sin and holiness never varies; but the standard of man’s conscience, even when faith is a dominant principle in the character, may vary to a very considerable degree. In Jesus Christ “all that believe are justified from all things;” but “by the deeds of the law no one.

Joshua 2:1 . And Joshua sent — Or, had sent, before the directions mentioned in the preceding chapter ( Joshua 2:10-11 ,) were given to the officers. This best agrees with Joshua 2:22 of this chapter, and the rest of the narrative. Two men — Not twelve, as Moses did, because those were to view the whole land, these but a small parcel of it. To spy — That is, to learn the state of the land and people. It is evident Joshua did not this out of distrust; it is probable he had God’s command and direction in it, for the encouragement of himself and his army. Secretly — With reference not to his enemies, that being the practice of all spies, but to the Israelites; a good caution to prevent the inconvenience which possibly might have arisen if their report had been discouraging. Jericho — That is, the land about Jericho, together with the city. Hebrew, the land and Jericho; that is, especially Jericho. A harlot’s house — Although the Hebrew word זונה , zonah, here rendered harlot, does also sometimes signify an innkeeper, or one who sells provisions; yet, as the former is certainly the common meaning of the term, and the sense in which it must frequently be necessarily taken, (see Genesis 34:31 ; Jdg 11:1 ; Hosea 1:2 ,) and as Rahab is called a harlot by two apostles, ( Hebrews 11:31 ; James 2:25 ,) who use an expression of no such equivocal meaning, it seems evident she had once been a harlot, though undoubtedly was now reformed.

Ch. Joshua 2:1-7 . The Mission of the Spies to Jericho 1 . sent out ] Or, had sent . Comp. ch. Joshua 1:11 , Joshua 3:2 . This was probably on the same day that Joshua received the Divine command to cross the Jordan. out of Shittim ] Comp. Numbers 33:49 ; Numbers 25:1 ; Joshua 3:1 ; Micah 6:5 . The full name of the place is given in the first of these passages, “ Abel Shittim ” = “the Meadow” or “Moist Place of the Acacias.” It was in the “Arabah” or Jordan valley opposite Jericho, at the outlet of the Wâdy Heshbon , about 60 stadia = 3 hours from the place of crossing the river. “We were in the plain of Shittim, and on climbing a little eminence near, we could see the rich wilderness of garden, extending in unbroken verdure right into the corner at the north-east end of the Dead Sea, under the angle formed by the projection of the mountains of Moab, where the Wady Suiweimeh enters the lake. It is now called the Ghor es Seisaban .… Among the tangled wilderness, chiefly near its western edge, still grow many of the acacia trees, ‘Shittim’ ( Acacia sayal ), from which the district derived its appropriate name of Abel ha-Shittim, ‘the meadow or moist place of the acacias;’ ” Tristram’s Land of Israel , p. 524. two men ] “Young men” according to the LXX. and ch. Joshua 6:23 . Brave, doubtless, and prudent, such as Joshua, who had himself been one of the twelve spies ( Numbers 13:16 ), would be likely to select, knowing, as he knew, all the dangers to which they would be exposed.

Jericho ] “The first stage of Joshua’s conquest was the occupation of the vast trench, so to speak, which parted the Israelites from the mass of the Promised Land,” and which was dominated by the city of Jericho, a place of great antiquity and importance. It derived its name, = “the City of Palm Trees,” from a vast grove of noble palm-trees, nearly three miles broad, and eight miles long, which must have recalled to the few survivors of the old generation of the Israelites the magnificent palm-groves of Egypt. The capture of Jericho was essential for two reasons: ( a ) Standing at the entrance of the main passes from the valley into the interior of Palestine,—the one branching off S. W. towards Olivet, and commanding the approach to Jerusalem, the other, to the N. E., towards Michmash, which defends the approach to Ai and Bethel—it was the key of the country to any invader coming as Joshua did from the East. ( b ) It was for that age a strongly walled town and “enjoyed the benefit of one, if not two, of those copious streams which form the chief sources of such fertility as the valley of the Jordan contains.” Its reduction, therefore, must have been the first object of the operations of Joshua on entering the land of Canaan. See Stanley’s Sinai and Palestine , p. 305. “The strategy displayed by the Israelites under Joshua—considering it only as an ordinary historical event—is worth notice.

CHAPTER 2 Jos 2:1-7. Rahab Receives and Conceals the Two Spies. 1. Joshua … sent … two men to spy secretly—Faith is manifested by an active, persevering use of means (Jas 2:22); and accordingly Joshua, while confident in the accomplishment of the divine promise (Jos 1:3), adopted every precaution which a skilful general could think of to render his first attempt in the invasion of Canaan successful. Two spies were despatched to reconnoitre the country, particularly in the neighborhood of Jericho; for in the prospect of investing that place, it was desirable to obtain full information as to its site, its approaches, the character, and resources of its inhabitants. This mission required the strictest privacy, and it seems to have been studiously concealed from the knowledge of the Israelites themselves, test any unfavorable or exaggerated report, publicly circulated, might have dispirited the people, as that of the spies did in the days of Moses. Jericho—Some derive this name from a word signifying "new moon," in reference to the crescent-like plain in which it stood, formed by an amphitheater of hills; others from a word signifying "its scent," on account of the fragrance of the balsam and palm trees in which it was embosomed. Its site was long supposed to be represented by the small mud-walled hamlet Er-Riha; but recent researches have fixed on a spot about half an hour's journey westward, where large ruins exist about six or eight miles distant from the Jordan.